many of the computer security folks back at FBI HQ use Macs running OS X, since those machines can do just about anything: run software for Mac, Unix, or Windows, using either a GUI or the command line. And they’re secure out of the box. In the field, however, they don’t have as much money to spend, so they have to stretch their dollars by buying WinTel-based hardware. Are you listening, Apple? The FBI wants to buy your stuff. Talk to them!

Dave also had a great quotation for us: “If you’re a bad guy and you want to frustrate law enforcement, use a Mac.” Basically, police and government agencies know what to do with seized Windows machines. They can recover whatever information they want, with tools that they’ve used countless times. The same holds true, but to a lesser degree, for Unix-based machines. But Macs evidently stymie most law enforcement personnel. They just don’t know how to recover data on them. So what do they do? By and large, law enforcement personnel in American end up sending impounded Macs needing data recovery to the acknowledged North American Mac experts: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Evidently the Mounties have built up a knowledge and technique for Mac forensics that is second to none.

(I hope I’m not helping increase the number of sales Apple has to drug trafficers.)

The biggest surprise was how approachable and helpful Dave was to everyone in the room. According to Dave, the FBI has really made reaching out to the local communities it’s in more of a priority. Since the September 11th attacks, the FBI has shifted its number one focus to preventing terrorism, but the number two priority remains preventing and capturing crimes based around technology. In order to best achieve both goals, the FBI has been working hard to reach out to American citizens, and Dave’s talk to my class was part of that effort.

more from [url=http://www.securityfocus.com/cgi-bin/sfonline/columnists-item.pl?id=215]Securityfocus[/url]

---

Filed under: Apple - @ January 30, 2004 1:03 am